Breakfast Topic: Should Overwatch be an MMO?

Okay, so go read this post, because it sets up the rest of this.

Jeff Kaplan was asked about Overwatch as a property and he talked about how right now, Overwatch doesn’t have the deep setting of the World of Warcraft universe. They’re in their infancy with the property, about where Blizzard was back when Warcraft: Orcs & Humans  came out. And that’s a fair comparison. A lot of things have changed and grown in Azeroth since Warcraft: Orcs & Humans came out. Whole new continents have been created, new worlds detailed.

So my question then becomes — does that mean it shouldn’t be an MMO? EverQuest started out its world of Norrath with less. City of Heroes, which to my mind is the biggest non-fantasy MMO in terms of both history and legacy and a clear model for the kind of game an Overwatch universe MMO could be, also started with essentially one city in a modern world. Does Overwatch have a rich enough backstory, setting, and characters to make it as an MMO right now? Since it’s set on an Earth some time in the future, there’s lot of real history to pull from. I’d personally say yes, you could go right now.

But that being said, I don’t know that I’d say they should. With WoW out there, developing an MMO right next to it seems kind of short sighted. You’re essentially competing with yourself. Games like Heroes of the Storm, Overwatch and Diablo 3 hit a different sweet spot, they don’t directly supply the same type of gaming experience. Now, for me, I’d love to see a Mass Effect style epic RPG experience set in the Overwatch universe. That’s where I think the setting should go.

So now let’s turn the wheel over to you. What do you think? MMO, RPG, or stay the course?